Nikon Coolpix P7100: a new high-end compact by Nikon

The Nikon Coolpix P7000 was launched last year to clearly compete with the Canon Powershot G12 on the high-end compact market. Despite reasonably good specs, the P7000 wasn’t really well received because of some usability and responsiveness issues. So, we were quite interested to see what this new Nikon Coolpix P7100 would offer.

At first look, the specifications are very similar: same 10 MPixels sensor and same lens. And very logically, apart from some design improvements, Nikon focused on the main weaknesses of the P7000. So, the main improvements are:

a better responsiveness with a new processor, the Expeed C2.

a better usability with a front command wheel and a flip screen (same 3" 0.9 MPixels display as the P7000)

P7100 vs its predecessor and its competitor

As expected, with the same specs, the P7100 and the P7000 reach the same level of image quality.

If we compare with G12, both models are close with a small advantage for the P7100.

But, the overall score of the G12 comes out better. This is easily explained by the very low sensitivity settings available on the G12 (down to 50 ISO), where the quality is naturally very good. This gives some good marks to the G12 and gives it an advantage for the overall score.

So, with the P7100, Nikon corrected the main glitches of the P7000 (usability and responsiveness) and maintained the image quality. But, will it be enough to compete with the new models launched recently.

P7100 vs Micro Four Thirds

Conclusion

As an overall conclusion, the P7100 seems to be better armed against its compact competitors. But, the arrival of the Interchangeable-lens category will certainly impact the Coolpix P7100 and the whole high-end compact market thanks to its good quality/size compromise.

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